AVE MARIA, Fla.- The Ave Maria University men's basketball team won in the postseason for the fourth consecutive season, holding on to beat the Keiser University Seahawks, 64-62, at Donahue Gym in Ave Maria. The win also clinched Ave Maria's fourth consecutive season with 20 wins, and sent the Gyrenes to Lake Wales for the conference final four, a site that has hosted the Gyrenes in three of the past four seasons.
The first eleven minutes or so of the first half belonged to Keiser, who jumped out to a 7-0 lead in the first three minutes of the contest. Ave Maria did not have a lead until the 8:31 mark of the first half, taking a 22-21 lead on a Matt Gillis layup. The Gyrenes took the lead as part of a 13-2 run that swung a six-point Keiser lead into a five-point edge for AMU. Ave Maria led for the rest of the first half, entering the halftime break with a 30-29 lead.
Ave Maria and Keiser traded the lead five times in the opening portion of the second half, with neither team able to take control of the game. The last of these five lead changes came at the 15:28 mark, when Mason Osborne drilled a three-pointer to give the Gyrenes a 40-37 lead. The Gyrenes either led or tied for the rest of the game, although the game did come down to the wire.
With the score tied at 58 with two and a half minutes to play, the Gyrenes went back up three on a clutch trey from Eric Klekas. The teams traded misses before a layup from Shaquille Harris cut the AMU lead to one with 1:49 on the clock. Matt Gillis would make one of two free throws, and Daryl Lewis rebounded the miss to keep the ball in AMU's possession. With the ball, Chayse Culpepper got to the rim and scored, giving the Gyrenes a 64-60 lead with one minute left.
Keiser answered with an Antwan Claxton layup, cutting the Gyrenes' lead to 64-62 with 40 seconds on the clock. Lucas Uzdavinis missed a potential dagger three with 18 seconds left, giving Keiser one last chance to tie or win. On the last Seahawk possession, Claxton missed a jumper in the lane, and a tip-in attempt from Quinton Glaspie was off the mark, sending the Gyrenes to the semifinals.
Chayse Culpepper was Ave Maria's leading scorer in the conference tournament win, scoring 18 points with seven rebounds. Mason Osborne had his best game as a Gyrene, hitting four three-pointers en route to 14 points off the bench. Eric Klekas added ten points, including the clutch three down the stretch. Matt Gillis narrowly missed out on a double-double with eight points and eight rebounds.
Following the win, which completed Ave Maria's first-ever season sweep of Keiser, the Gyrenes head to the Turner Athletic Center in Lake Wales for the semifinals of The Sun Conference Tournament. Friday's semifinal will be the third meeting of the season between the Gyrenes and the second-seed, No. 19 Southeastern University. The matchup is the third between the schools in this round in the last four years - Ave Maria won in 2019, and Southeastern returned the favor in 2020. Tipoff in Lake Wales is scheduled for 5:00 p.m.
